Of course, it's also possible that Clark, with his superhearing, overheard something that he couldn't tell anyone about...
Yeah, but that would be fanwanking
. The "high ground" thing is canon (like I said, watch Clark's reaction) and it's in the script.
I agree with you on the instant dislike aspect, though. I think it contributed to Clark suspecting and then confronting Luthor instead of just concluding that Toni and Luthor using the exact same (and not that common) phrase was coincidence.
